Plants, People and Phytochemicals

Fall, Winter and Spring quarters

Major areas of study include organic chemistry, anatomy, physiology and pharmacognosy.

Class Standing: Sophomores or above; transfer students welcome.

Accepts Winter Enrollment: This program will accept new students. Contact faculty at Academic Fair or by email.

Accepts Spring Enrollment: This program will accept new students.

Note: This 8-credit program will meet from 6 to 10 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on selected Saturdays. First class Spring Quarter will meet in Sem2 E1105.

This program will explore the relationship between plants as natural medicines and the human body. Activities will include lectures, labs and fieldwork.

Fall quarter's chemistry lectures will focus on the structural and physical properties of organic molecules with an emphasis on functional groups related to natural products. This will be paired with learning anatomy and physiology from a systems approach and methodically working through the body. To help reinforce and unite these topics the pharmacognosy component will be a series of lectures on medicinal natural products and Materia Medica. The lab component will feature techniques related to the isolation of natural products as well as exploring many human anatomical features. The fieldwork will focus on mushrooms, garlic, and the Organic Farm.

In winter, students continue their exploration of the human body with a more physiological focus. Starting with the special senses and working through endocrinology, the digestive and urinary systems, students will explore how the body works in both health and disease. Organic chemistry lectures will focus on functional groups related to natural products and will introduce GC-MS and NMR spectroscopy. Pharmacognosy lectures will focus on terpenes, volatile oils, the medicinal qualities of plants and how these are used to regain homeostasis in the body. Labs will include extraction and distillation techniques related to the isolation of volatile oils.

Organic chemistry lectures in spring will focus on nitrogen-containing compounds. Pharmacognosy lectures will focus on the alkaloids and may include a series of talks on healing philosophies. Anatomy and physiology will merge with nutrition and include topics on the role of phytochemicals in people. Students also will be given the opportunity to develop and pursue a research project related to their interest in pharmacognosy. These independent projects can be based on lab work or scientific literature or fieldwork and may contain a component of each. Faculty will support this effort with technical guidance and students are expected to present their results to their peers.